Casshan
Encyclopedia
Casshan also known as in Japan, is an anime
series created by animation studio Tatsunoko Productions in 1973, which was based on a serialization in Kodansha
’s Terebi Magazine and Akita Shoten
’s “Boken Oh” (Adventure King).
The Casshern franchise also includes a 1993 original video animation
simply titled Casshern, and a 2004 live action adaptation of the same name. In October 2008, a reboot of the franchise titled Casshern Sins
premiered; in anticipation of the upcoming series, a DVD
box set of the original series, titled Neo-Human Casshern Complete DVD-Box "All Episodes of Casshern", was released in Japan on September 24, 2008. Casshern also appears in Tatsunoko Fight
and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars as a playable character.
Casshern and his robotic dog, Friender, join forces with a beautiful girl named Luna Kozuki to battle the robots led by the Buraiking Boss. Casshern has great strength and agility, but he is not armed, except for a pair of odd pistols, used more like rockets than weapons. Friender is capable of transforming itself into a tank or a jet aircraft and actively helps Casshern to fight the robot army. While the robots are huge and robust machines, he is usually able to destroy them with his bare hands, dispatching a great number in any battle. Casshern has also some weakpoints: his body must be re-charged (with solar energy), and cannot sustain very long battles without risking low battery power. Luna was totally harmless, until her father was able to build an electromagnetic pistol, easily capable of destroying the robots. Almost all the robot machines have an antenna on top of their heads, ripping it off usually causes them to blow up, so they are relatively vulnerable.
adapted the OVA remake series to the American market, they romanized title as "Casshan" instead of "Casshern". "Casshern" is the romanization used in Japan and in other countries, and is used as the romanized title of the film adaptation.
featured a robotic hero with a dog as a partner which could transform into different vehicles. Continuing in the vein of Capcom influences, Mega Man Zero of the Gameboy Advance Mega Man spin-off franchise bears a strong resemblance to Casshern (of the reboot series) himself. The entirety of the Megaman X series story is closely based on Casshern. The design and background of its main antagonist, Sigma, also closely resembles Braiking Boss. Also, In Viewtiful Joe
, the protagonist's outfit bears a strong resemblance along with the V shaped headpiece and the retractable mask. The character M. Bison
from Street Fighter II
also bears a strong resemblance to Braiking Boss. In Metal Gear Solid 4, Raiden
wears a bio-suit and fights with a sword which can discharge electric energy.
In Vanquish
, developed by Platinum Games, the art style is based on Casshern. In one of the boss fights the main character drills through a robot by spinning in place at high speed, similar to Casshern. Concerning the game's development, director Shinji Mikami
is quoted as saying: "I was inspired by Casshern, so I wanted to make a game like that. If I went ahead and made the exact game I wanted, it probably would have been like Casshern, where you punch and kick the entire way through. But obviously if it were a game with only punching and kicking, I already did that with God Hand
. So, I'm done with that, something else now. So this time he wanted to make a game where you defeat robots with guns. So now, you're going at it with guns, but he wanted to make sure the feeling of speed is still there, that was really important to him, so that's why he introduced the element of the sliding boost." In addition, the protagonist of Vanquish has a facemask that periodically comes off to show his human side, much like Casshern himself.
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
series created by animation studio Tatsunoko Productions in 1973, which was based on a serialization in Kodansha
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
’s Terebi Magazine and Akita Shoten
Akita Shoten
is a Japanese publishing company established on August 10, 1948 in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Its main editorial target has always been teenagers , and it currently publishes mostly manga...
’s “Boken Oh” (Adventure King).
The Casshern franchise also includes a 1993 original video animation
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
simply titled Casshern, and a 2004 live action adaptation of the same name. In October 2008, a reboot of the franchise titled Casshern Sins
Casshern Sins
is a reboot of the classic anime series Casshan, animated by Madhouse. It premiered in Japan on October 1, 2008, following a sneak preview of the first episode at Otakon 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland....
premiered; in anticipation of the upcoming series, a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
box set of the original series, titled Neo-Human Casshern Complete DVD-Box "All Episodes of Casshern", was released in Japan on September 24, 2008. Casshern also appears in Tatsunoko Fight
Tatsunoko Fight
is a fighting video game developed and published by Takara for the PlayStation game console released in Japan in October 2000. It features characters from various Tatsunoko superhero properties in addition to original creations developed exclusively for the game...
and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars as a playable character.
Plot
, also known as Casshern, is an android with a human consciousness . Tetsuya turned himself into an android for the purpose of hunting down and destroying robots that have taken over the world. His biological father, Dr. Kotaro Azuma, was the inventor of the automatons that were originally intended to serve humankind. However, the first android, BK-1, was struck by lightning, and went out of control. With its great strength, it escaped from the castle despite attempts to stop it. After some time, it renamed itself as Buraiking Boss (often mistranslated in English as "Black King Boss"; derived from 無頼 or burai, meaning rogue or brute), and was able to build a robot army against mankind; the robots mutinied en masse when their cold logic concluded that the good of the Earth Ecosystem required the destruction of the human race.Casshern and his robotic dog, Friender, join forces with a beautiful girl named Luna Kozuki to battle the robots led by the Buraiking Boss. Casshern has great strength and agility, but he is not armed, except for a pair of odd pistols, used more like rockets than weapons. Friender is capable of transforming itself into a tank or a jet aircraft and actively helps Casshern to fight the robot army. While the robots are huge and robust machines, he is usually able to destroy them with his bare hands, dispatching a great number in any battle. Casshern has also some weakpoints: his body must be re-charged (with solar energy), and cannot sustain very long battles without risking low battery power. Luna was totally harmless, until her father was able to build an electromagnetic pistol, easily capable of destroying the robots. Almost all the robot machines have an antenna on top of their heads, ripping it off usually causes them to blow up, so they are relatively vulnerable.
Characters
- The protagonist of the series, Casshern is an android—the union of Tetsuya Azuma's consciousness with an invincible body. His body features a number of unique android functions, including superhuman speed, agility and strength, an opening and closing facemask, a golden crescent-shaped solar panel on his forehead and waist-mounted pulsar propellers that can also be used as weapons.
- A beautiful, 15-year-old girl who fights alongside Casshern. Like Tetsuya, her father is a scientist, and she is essential in the battle against the Andro Army, due to her MFMagnetic fieldA magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
Gun.
- Tetsuya's mother, who had been captured by the Andro Army and had her data transferred into the body of , a swan-type robo pet kept by Buraiking Boss. She observes the actions of Buraiking Boss and appears before Casshern as a hologram to offer her support.
- The genius scientist who invented androids in hopes of helping mankind, and ironically became the architect of mankind's doom.
- Originally Tetsuya's pet dog, , its data was used to revive it as Friender after it was killed. In order to support Casshern, he can transform into a jet, submarine, tank, or a motorcycle, and is even able to breathe flames. Friender is a brave robotic dog capable of standing up to the Andro Army alone.
- The antagonist of the series, originally BK-1, the first android created by Dr. Azuma and designed to help the human race, he was struck by lightning and rebelled, renaming himself Buraiking Boss (often mistranslated in English as "Black King Boss"; the name derives from the Japanese 無頼 or burai, meaning rogue or brute). He leads the Andro Army in a plot to conquer the Earth.
- A High-ranking member of the Andro Army along with Buraiking Boss.
Episodes
Title romanization
When Streamline PicturesStreamline Pictures
Streamline Pictures was an American media company that was best known for its distribution of English dubbed Japanese animation. -Founding:Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1988, Streamline Pictures was one of the first North American companies that was created primarily for the intention of...
adapted the OVA remake series to the American market, they romanized title as "Casshan" instead of "Casshern". "Casshern" is the romanization used in Japan and in other countries, and is used as the romanized title of the film adaptation.
Legacy
The influence of Casshern can be seen in various video games. Starting with the third game, Mega ManMega Man
Mega Man is a video game franchise from Capcom, starring the eponymous character Mega Man, or one of his many counterparts. The series is well-known and comprises well over fifty releases, easily making it Capcom's most prolific franchise. As of December 31, 2010, the series has sold approximately...
featured a robotic hero with a dog as a partner which could transform into different vehicles. Continuing in the vein of Capcom influences, Mega Man Zero of the Gameboy Advance Mega Man spin-off franchise bears a strong resemblance to Casshern (of the reboot series) himself. The entirety of the Megaman X series story is closely based on Casshern. The design and background of its main antagonist, Sigma, also closely resembles Braiking Boss. Also, In Viewtiful Joe
Viewtiful Joe
is a video game developed by Capcom's Production Studio 4 for the Nintendo GameCube. It was originally released in 2003 as a part of the Capcom Five under director Hideki Kamiya and producer Atsushi Inaba. Viewtiful Joe was later ported to the Sony PlayStation 2 by the same design team under the...
, the protagonist's outfit bears a strong resemblance along with the V shaped headpiece and the retractable mask. The character M. Bison
M. Bison
M. Bison, known in Japan as Vega, is a video game character created by Capcom. First introduced in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, he is a recurring character in the Street Fighter series of fighting games, acting as the final boss and primary antagonist of the Street Fighter II and Street...
from Street Fighter II
Street Fighter II
is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...
also bears a strong resemblance to Braiking Boss. In Metal Gear Solid 4, Raiden
Raiden (Metal Gear)
, whose real name is , is a video game character in the Metal Gear series of stealth games by Konami. Created by Hideo Kojima and designed by Yoji Shinkawa, Raiden was introduced in the series as the main playable character of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty...
wears a bio-suit and fights with a sword which can discharge electric energy.
In Vanquish
Vanquish (video game)
is a third-person shooter video game developed by Platinum Games and published by Sega for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles. The game was released in October 2010, after having been in development since 2007....
, developed by Platinum Games, the art style is based on Casshern. In one of the boss fights the main character drills through a robot by spinning in place at high speed, similar to Casshern. Concerning the game's development, director Shinji Mikami
Shinji Mikami
is a Japanese video game designer best known for creating the seminal survival horror series Resident Evil. He also contributed to some of Capcom's most popular post-32-bit era franchises, including Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry, and Ace Attorney, where he served as an executive producer...
is quoted as saying: "I was inspired by Casshern, so I wanted to make a game like that. If I went ahead and made the exact game I wanted, it probably would have been like Casshern, where you punch and kick the entire way through. But obviously if it were a game with only punching and kicking, I already did that with God Hand
God Hand
God Hand is a 2006 PlayStation 2 gameGod hand may also refer to:-Video games:* Ken "Godhand" Mishima, a character from the PlayStation game, Ehrgeiz* Godhand, the demonic version of Lenny from Shadow Hearts: Covenant...
. So, I'm done with that, something else now. So this time he wanted to make a game where you defeat robots with guns. So now, you're going at it with guns, but he wanted to make sure the feeling of speed is still there, that was really important to him, so that's why he introduced the element of the sliding boost." In addition, the protagonist of Vanquish has a facemask that periodically comes off to show his human side, much like Casshern himself.
See also
- Robot Hunter Casshern - A four-episode OVA produced in 1993, released in English as Casshan: Robot Hunter.
- Casshern - A 2004 live-action tokusatsuTokusatsuis a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....
film adaptationFilm adaptationFilm adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
. - Casshern SinsCasshern Sinsis a reboot of the classic anime series Casshan, animated by Madhouse. It premiered in Japan on October 1, 2008, following a sneak preview of the first episode at Otakon 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland....
- A 2008 anime series and franchise reboot.